Means for restraining the rebound of pneumatic tires



March 5, 1929. B. B. HoLMl-:s

MEANS FOR RESTRAINLNG THE REBOUND 0F PNBUIA'IC TIRES Original FiledSept. 27, 1924 ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 5, 1929.

UNITED STATES *127104002 PATENT ol-Fica- BRADFORD vB. HOLMES, 0FNEWYORK, .'N. Y;

MEANS Fon nEsrRAININe 'THE REBOUND or PNEUMATIC TIRES.

Reled for abandoned application Serial No. 740,157, vfiled September 27,1924. This application tiled March i f 31, 1927. Serial No. 179,758.

'Ifhis application is reliled for my aban- -doned application, SerialNo. 740,157 filed September 27, 1924, for means for restrain* resultby'means self-contained within the tire assembly itself.

Another object is to accomplish the same result by providing meanswhereby so much of the inner surface of the portion of the tire assemblyas is compressed beyond a predetermined amount will be retarded in`recovering `its normal shape, thus correspondingly modifying theviolence of the rebound which would normally result from unrestrainedexpansion.`

Another object is to provide means Whereby the necessary restrainingforce may be created. 1

Another object is to accomplish the results above set forth by providingmeans whereby a compressed portionof the tire is caused to adheremomentarily toa relatively xed surface in the interior fof kthe tirewhen the deformation exceeds a predeterminedv amount, the force ofadherence acting as a restraining force.

Another object is to provide means wherer by suction may be utilized asthe necessary' force 4for retarding the recovery of the tire to normalshape. ,l

I illustrate and descrlbe my invention as embodied in a conventionalpneumatic tire assembly;4 that is Vto say, a tire provided with an airtight llnlng or lnner tube sov called.` It is to be``understood,however, that I am utilizing .this particular' pneu--Inatietire construction merely as a lmatter of convenience inexplaining the invention, and

that the full scope of the invention isy to 'be claims.

As far as the utility of the invention is .concerned it is also to -beunderstood that itmay be used in association with tire lasconsidered asdelined by the appended semblies of any dimensions, or relativedimensions, and with any internal air pressure or load. Y

It is appreciated, however, that the dimensions of tire .ordinarilyemployed until very recently have been such that the rebound caused bythem has not been -a serious factor in the steadiness of travel' of thevehicles to which they have been applied. Recently, however, there hascome into use a type of tire known as the balloon type characterized bythe fact that a relatively lcw internal pressure and large cross sectionarea are substituted for/the relatively high internal pressure and smallcross section area of the earlier type. While tires of this type arevery efficient ,in reduci the violence of the smaller road shocks they 1are nevertheless, Very resilient by reason of the relatively large`volume of' low pressure air withwhich they are inlated, and when theyare compressed beyond a certain amount as they are by elevations ordepressions in the road surface, the ensuing free .ment .of tire,however, being Vshownin his figure.

Fig. 4 is a similar view onthe line 4 4 of Fig. 2;

Fig 5 is a face view of kthe-so-called sucker or vacuum cup strip. c

, .The particular force whichV I prefer to employ for lbringing aboutthe desired adhereneeofa compressed ortion of the tire to the relativelyfxedsur ace isy suction, and thisiforce may conveniently be exerted. ina way t`o accomplish my object by means of a series of vacuum cups, \orsuckers in the interior of the tire and presenting themselves in aradial direction with respect to the center of the wheel, so that theyare adapted to. engage an opposite registering surface supported by thetire or inner tube, as the case may be. For instance, assume aconventional rim l, and the exible tire 2. The suckers or vacuum cupsmay consist of depressions or pockets 3 in the outer surface of anannular strip 4 of rubber or other resilient material which in turn issupported by a web 5, likewise of rubber or other resilient material.Support for the web may be provided in the form of an annular strip 6,which may be considered to form the inner internal periphery of thetire'and which may be so shaped in cross section as to tightly fit therim and also the space between the beads'7-7 of the tire. rllhe innertube 8 may be split annularly along its inner periphery so that the webwill project through into the. interior of the tube and the edges 9 9ofthe tube may be vulcanized or otherwise suitably united to the strip6. This construction makes an air tight structure, but is to beconsidered as an example only of a suitable illustra-tive structure inwhich my invention may be incorporated. rlhe particular Way in which thesucker stripv is mounted is not obviously material to my invention andprovided the desired results are obtained, the structure may befabricated by employing any suitable method. o

Some clearance l0 is allowed between the sucker strip and the surface ofthe tube toward which it is presented, the amount of this clearancedepending upon considera.- tions which will be hereinafter referred to.It may merely be noted for the present that if a portion of the tread ofthe tire is compressed, as shown in Fig. 3, the compressed portionapproaches the particular suckers which are presented toward it, and ifthe compression is carried far enoughto engage the suckers as shown, inFig. 4, the air is wholly or partly expelled fromvthem and a releasableengagement constituting a poten tial resistance to' expansion of thecompressed portion is therebycreated. It is L preferable that the outerinternal periphery which is to engage the suckers be thickened as shownat 1l and formed to present a sur,- face which will register asperfectly as posj sible with the edges of the suckers when contact takesplace. The thickened portionnot only is better adapted to resist thestrains imposed on it, but it also lends a certain rigidity to the treadwith a consequent increased resist'ince to parting when, after thesuckers and tube have become engaged, cxpansion of the compressedportion takes place as a result of the compressive force ceasing to act.l

The operation of the device is as follows:

As the vehicle travels over the road it repeatedly passes overelevations such as Vindicated by 12' (Fig. 4) or depressions which causea sudden and substantial compression of the tire` and inner tube overthe area including and surrounding the region of impact. Thecorresponding area of the interior of the tube or' tire is, therefore,forced inwardly and if the impact be sufficient it meets the suckerstrip. The latter being suitably stiff engages with the outer internalperiphery ofthe tube and the air is forced from the suckers. Thematerial and the parts being resilient work is done on them when thetire is in process of resuming its normal shape and thus a large part ofthe energy which would otherwise beexpended in accelerating the returnof the tire to normal shape is in fact absorbed by these resilient partsand a proportionate reduction in the violence of rebound of the vehiclelis the consequence. ln order to insure a more perfect action of theAvacuum cups a small quantity of water, or other liguid comparativelyharmless to rubber, may be introduced into the inner tube. As theVehicle wheel revolves the centrifugal force thereby producedcauses'this liquid to be distributed about the outer internal peripheryof the tire, and the liquid therefore, serves effectively to seal theunion between the vacuum cups and their co-acting surfaces regardless ofwhere a given compression aitakes place.

While I have vdescribed only a single, simple and practical embodimentof my invention, I am aware that changes and variations may be madewhich will, nevertheless, be within the scope of the appended claimswhich are as follows:

l. A pneumatic tire assembly provided .with means for'releasablyconnecting the 4inner and outer internal peripheries thereof' when thetread portion of the tire is compressed beyond a predetermined amount,said means consisting of vacuum cups connected with one of saidperipheries and eX- tending toward the other of said peripheries andspaced from thev latter.

2. A vpneumatic tire assembly provided with resilient means forreleasably connecting the inner and outer internal peripheries thereofwhen the tread portion of the tire is compressed beyond a predeterminedamount, i

said means consisting of vacuum cups connected with one of saidperipheries4 and eX` tending' toward the other of said peripheries andspaced from the latter.

A pneumatic tire assembly comprising a compressiblc tire member havingan interior cavity, and one of the internal peripheries of which isprovided with a party having a plurality of vacuum cups presentingthemselves toward the/other internal 'I periphery and spaced therefrom,said cups being adapted to connect said peripherie yieldingly at times.

4. A pneumatic t-ire assembly comprising a .compressible tire memberhaving anr interior cavity, 'and one: of the internal peripheries ofwhich is provided with a part having a plurality of resilientlysupported vacuum cups presenting themselves toward the other internalperiphery and spaced therefrom, said cups being adapted to connect saidperipheries yieldingly at times.

5. A pneumatic tire assembly comprising a compressible tire memberhaving "an interior cavity, and an annular stri p projecting from one ofthe inner walls of said cavity, said strip being provided with vacuumcups presented toward another position of said inner Walls, said stripbeing resiliently supported, and said vacuum cups being spaced normallyfrom one of said walls and adapted t0 connect said Walls yieldingly attimes.

6. A pneumatic tire assembly comprising a colnpressible tiremember-having" an interior cavity, and havinpr an annular stripsupported from the. inner peripheral wall of said cavity, said stripbeing provided with vacuum cups extending toward t-he'opposite internalwall thereof, said vacuum cups beingspaced from said other wall andadapted to engage the said other wall when the tire is compressed, andto release the same When the compressive force ceases to act. l

7. A pneumatic tire assembly comprising a compressible tire memberhaving an intcrior cavity, and provided in its interior with anl annularrubber strip supported by a rubber web mounted on the inner internalWall of said cavity, said strip being provided with vacuum 'cupsextending toward the outer internal Wall of said cavity and spacedtherefrom and adapted to engage the said outer internal' Wall in theregion of compression When the said outer wall is compressed beyond apre-detemiined amount.

8. A pneumatic tireassembly comprising a compressible tire member havingan interior cavity, and provided in its interior with an annular rubberstrip supported by a rubber web mounted on the inner internal Wall ofsaid cavity, said strip being provided VWith ,vacuum 'cups extendingtoward the outer internal Wall of said cavity and spaced therefrom andadapted'to engage the said outer internal wall in the region ofcompression when the said outer wall is compressed beyond apre-determined amount, and being adapted to release said compressedportion when the compressive force ceases to act.

9. In a pneumatic tire assembly comprising' a compressible tire memberhaving an interior cavity, a device for checking the force of therebound of said tire member, said device acting to releasably connectportions of the Walls of said cavity following ar compression beyond apredetermined amount.

10. In a pneumatic tire assembly comprising a compressible tire memberhaving an interior cavity, a device for checking the rebound of saidtire member, said device acting: to releasably connect the inner andouter internal peripheries of the Walls thereof when the tire iscompressed beyond' a predetermined amount.

11. A pneumatic tire comprising a compressible tire member having' aninterior cavity and means for checking the rebound of said tirecomprising a resilient device acting to releasably connect the inner andouter internal peripheries of a portion of the tire when the saidportion is compressed beyond a certain amount, the said device beingadapted to absorb a part of the energy stored up by the compression andthereby reduce the violence of .the rebound.

12. In ,a pneumatic tire assembly comprising a eompressible tire memberhaving an interior cavity, means for restraining the rebound thereof,comprising a device connectedwith one of the internal peripheries ofsaid tire member and adapted releasably and resiliently to engage theother internal periphery When the tire Vis compressed a predeterminedamount, the force resisting re leaserbeing less than the force tendingto expand the tire.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification.

BRADFORD B. HOLMES.

